As more days go by, the day that the seniors officially stop being Pines Charter Jaguars comes closer and closer. These past few weeks, many seniors have been getting accepted into their dream colleges: Congrats to them!

   Seniors Jean-Thomas Mateesco and Emily Danzinger are just two of the many seniors who have been excitedly accepted into their dream colleges.

   Jean-Thomas Mateesco, mostly referred to as Thomas, will attend the University of Central Florida in the fall.

   Thomas has been wanting to attend UCF for about three years now. Initially, Thomas was interested in attending the University of Southern California, but then found out that a program he was interested in was not available there. He then set his eyes upon the University of Central Florida, and has been locked in since.

   When Thomas found out that he had been accepted into his dream school, he was filled with excitement. Thomas states “I was actually in a breakout room, and I kept refreshing the UCF admissions page,” “It was with my friend and we were doing a project together, and I was like ‘Oh my God I just want to get accepted’ because I have a lot of anxiety and fun fact, that is actually the only school I applied to.”

   After constantly refreshing the UCF admissions page, a big ‘Congratulations’ appeared on Thomas’s screen. Thomas felt surprised, saying“I was like ‘Wait, what?’ I literally jumped up out of my bed, put on a song, and I just started dancing so much,” Thomas says. “I was really anxious before getting accepted, so now I’m very excited to go to the University of Central Florida. Go Knights!”

   As for Emily, she will proudly attend her dream school, the University of Miami, in the fall.

   Emily has been wanting to go to UM for a very long time now.

   “I’ve been wanting to go to the University of Miami probably since I was like six or seven,” Emily says. “I was raised in a family full of Hurricane fans. My dad was a Hurricane fan when he was my age and so was my uncle, so I’ve always grown up going to Hurricane games. ”

   Emily applied early action for UM and she received her decision on January 29th. Emily says that she had an “inkling” of what time the results would come out, and it had been on her mind all day.

   “I was just sitting there refreshing and then the update pops up. Basically, I start yelling. My dad comes running over from his office, my mom comes running over, and then I just take a deep breath,” Emily says. “I was freaking out, because I also had a scholarship on the line for full tuition, so I was literally freaking out.”

   When Emily opened her acceptance letter, she was overjoyed. “It’s just a blur of just screaming and crying from everyone. I called my uncle, and my dad went running out to the garage to get all of the Hurricane caps he keeps there. It was like this feeling of pure elation and accomplishment, and I was on cloud nine. It’s incredible being able to know you’re going to go to this school that you’ve wanted to go to for so long. It’s a feeling like no other.”

   Even after her acceptance, Emily says that the entire thing still hasn’t hit her. “Sometimes I have to sit down like ‘Jeez, I’m actually going’,” Emily says. “It’s a dream. It’s amazing, I couldn’t have asked for anything better and I’m very very grateful to have the opportunity to be going there.”

   Overall, both seniors believe that all of the blood, sweat, and tears they put into high school has paid off tremendously. Congrats to Thomas, Emily, and the rest of the seniors for getting into the schools of their dreams!